The Guevara brothers get 27 & 30 years jail sentences

By Aleksander Boyd

21.12.05 | First a bit of background information. The Guevara brothers (Rolando, Otoniel and Juan Bautista) are, basically, a family clan that used to run the DISIP, otherwise known as the political police of Venezuela. In 1992, when lieutenant colonel Hugo Chavez attempted a coup d'etat against democratically elected Carlos Andres Perez, the DISIP, of which the Guevara brothers were already part, brought a sudden end to Chavez's botched enterprise. As a matter of fact, Chavez coup-companions were successful in securing control of their chosen targets in Maracay and Maracaibo. The one who failed miserably and went into hiding, as the coward he is, was the current 'president' of the banana republic of Venezuela. Years later the same Chavez would provide protection to Peruvian criminal and former ally of Fujimori Vladimiro Montesinos. But the ones who actually carried out the dirty work were the Guevaras. Ergo Chavez on the one hand has a personal grudge against them for having being instrumental in defeating his coup and secondly these guys have a mountain of dirt that could easily bury Chavez.

Danilo Anderson was Chavez's favourite rottweiler. A mediocre lawyer with extremely dubious credentials he was given carte blanche to prosecute, pretty much, all of Chavez's political opponents. Along the way he, as every malnourished and deranged inner-circle chavista, got greedy and created a ring of extortionists that would milk senseless the stupid bunch that went to Pedro Carmona Estanga's 'swearing in' ceremony in Miraflores Palace following the events of April 11 2002. Among this bunch -more than 400 people- there were personal friends and former benefactors of the Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. Whoever did kill him must have thought "a notorious prosecutor killed by the violent opposition he was investigating. The perfect motive for the crime." The Guevaras were to be, of course, the pawns in this complot. Hence many birds get out of the scene with one shot, erm, one bomb.

However, as with all things Chavez, the programme didn't go as planned. The Attorney General and his office have been, to date, absolutely useless in terms of conducting a proper investigation, for all the avenues seem to lead to upper echelons of the chavista revolution. We have seen how high representatives of the Church, media moguls, famous journalists, the CIA, Bush, the oligarchy... in sum all the demons that allegedly scare Chavez have sat in the accused bench, as the 'investigations' progressed. The star witness of the trial is a Colombian citizen by the name of Giovanni Vásquez De Armas, who according to that country's intelligence is a member of the paramilitary and was in jail once for identity theft. Nevertheless Vásquez De Armas made his accusations heard and testified before the court. As Miguel poignantly commented "... a guy capable of smuggling 12 kilos (26.45 pounds) of C4, according to his own testimony, the powerful, high velocity explosive, is considered to be by our own Prosecutor General a stand up citizen, a “good” guy, but certainly not a crook or a delinquent, in the words of the man anointed in by the empty revolution to defend the law."

None of this bothers Isaias Rodriguez, the most independent attorney general, who once upon a time was Chavez's Vice President. Thus yesterday Rolando and Otoniel were sentenced to 27 years and Juan Bautista to 30 years imprisonment. Payback time as some will say. There is, however, no doubt that a sentence based on fabricated evidence is unlawful. But then again bear in mind that is Venezuela we're talking about.